On the Peak to Peak with Miles

My youngest son, Miles, who is turning 15 this month; headed out with me on Scarlett, my 2014 URAL Patrol, to go hike the Brainard Lake Hiking Trail.  This particular trail had been named as one of the top 20 hiking trails in the US by some online magazine so it sounded like fun.

Miles being a teenager, I had to let him sleep in till about 8:00AM while I got the rig ready to go,

This means we left the house at the crack of 9:00AM, and full into heavy Denver Metro area traffic as we made our way slowly through the city and into the foothills area near Morrison.  Traffic remained heavy as we rode north on CO State Road 93, transited through the crowded town of Boulder and finally after seemingly hitting every red light, made it to the entrance to Left Hand Canyon Road!

The canyon road still exhibits signs of the damaging floods from last year, with several stretches of it not paved yet and just packed dirt with gravel.  Speeds were limited to 20 MPH but we managed spurts of 30 MPH once in a while.  We made it to the small town of Ward which is situated alongside the junction of Left Hand Canyon Road and CO 72, the Peak to Peak Highway.

It was close to Noon before we got near the first parking area for Brainard Lake Recreation Area and there was already a line of cars waiting to get in.  We parked the rig, took off our riding gear and helmets, walked up only to find out there was at least two more miles to go to the trail head.  It was too crowded for me and Miles seemed OK with us bagging the hike for another day.

Motoring down back towards Ward, we took the Peak to Peak Highway south and made our way under brightly sunny skies and cool temperatures to the outskirts of the town of Nederland, home of the "Frozen Dead Guy".

While Miles checked out the Steam Shovel nearby, I spotted an interestingly named restaurant not far from where I had stopped Scarlett to check for messages on the phone.  It was the Kathmandu Restaurant, advertising Nepalese and Indian Cuisine.  Miles was up for lunch as it was close to 1:30 PM by this point and we were both hungry.

Turns out, the place is rated 5 stars on yelp.com and while the command of the English language by the waiters wasn't great, the food was pretty good.

 I had the Chicken Paloong, chunks of chicken in a spinach sauce, tasty.

Miles tried the Tandoori Chicken with curry.  He ordered it medium

spicy and found it a bit bland.  He didn't get this ability to withstand fiery foods

from me, must be from Martha!  :)

Turns out, in our ignorance of the difference, we both thought we were ordering Nepalese dishes but turns out both of us got Northern India dishes!

Now close to 2:30 PM, we paid for lunch, donned riding gear and set off on CO 119 towards Boulder.  The large lunch caused Miles to fall asleep in the tub as we motored along.  However, I did manage this photo of him with Nederland in the background before he went into nap mode:

Barker Reservoir, near Nederland, CO

As I twisted and turned my way down CO 119 and its canyon walls which follow the meandering path of Boulder Creek, I would occasionally feel Miles' helmet bump into my right elbow.  I would look down, see him fast asleep, and just motor on.  The sleep-inducing powers of the sidecar had worked their magic once again!

The rest of the ride was uneventful, we transited the southern part of Boulder one more time on CO 93 and soon it was just slab riding all the way to the home neighborhood.  It had gotten pretty warm in the metro area and it was a relief to pull into the garage and doff our riding gear!

Miles tells me he had a good time, and I enjoyed the riding we did together.  I was quite impressed too with how willing he was to try new stuff, much more willing than his old man usually is!